Gravette overcomes turnovers for win

GRAVETTE 64, ASHDOWN 39

BROOKLAND — Gravette girls basketball coach Will Pittman said teams don’t have to be pretty to move on in a state tournament.

Pittman’s Lady Lions proved that Thursday.

Despite committing 33 turnovers, the Lady Lions defeated Ashdown 64-39 in a Class 4A first-round girls state basketball tournament game at Bearcat Arena.

“Overall, I think we stuck with it,” Pittman said. “Our intensity was good the entire game. We played hard the entire game. It was the first time these girls have played in a state tournament. They probably had a few nerves, which led to a few turnovers, which was uncharacteristic for us.

“I thought we got a little more aggressive on the offensive end, which helped us a lot. We got to the line and we beat them off the dribble quite a bit.”

The Lady Lions will face Riverview at 7 p.m. today in a quarterfinal game.

Gravette (25-7), which shot 18 of 40 from the floor, had three players score at least 10 points. Junior guard Jessica Bookout scored a team-high 13 points. Sophomore guard Cally Kildow finished with 11 points while freshman guard Shylee Morrison added 10 points.

Senior guard Lark Wilkerson led Ashdown (17-13) with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Zakiyah Rhone, a senior guard, added 10 points for the Lady Panthers, who shot 13 of 53 from the floor and committed 32 turnovers.

It was 13-13 entering the second quarter, then Gravette went on a 18-2 run to take a 31-16 lead with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left in the first half. Senior guard Kyrstin Branscum’s 3-pointer capped the run for the Lady Lions. Gravette outscored Ashdown 24-7 in the second quarter to lead 37-20 at halftime.

“I thought the second quarter was the best ball we’ve played, on both ends,” Pittman said. “I thought our defense really picked up, as far as footwork and keeping them in front of us and making them go where we wanted them to go.

“That made it a little bit easier for us on offense.”

Bookout’s basket made it 48-31, which was the score at the end of the third quarter.

Gravette was 27 of 37 from the free-throw line Thursday.

“Lately, we haven’t very good from the line,” Pittman said. “I think they did a good job coming out focused on that early. We made our first quite a few. In the second quarter, we were aggressive on offense, which led us to the line, which got us those easy points.”

CAC 64, OZARK 54

Central Arkansas Christian senior guard Christyn Williams, a University of Connecticut signee, finished with 34 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Mustangs.

CAC (34-1) will play at noon Saturday in the semifinals.

Williams made 12 field goals and hit a 3-pointer Thursday. She was 7 of 10 from the free-throw line. Freshman guard Bethany Dillard had 16 points, including four 3-pointers. The Lady Mustangs shot 22 of 44 from the floor.

Senior guard Ariel Walker led the Lady Hillbillies (27-3) with 19 points. Hannah Ladd, a senior guard, added 14 points.

Williams scored nine of CAC’s first 15 points to take a 15-6 lead midway through the first quarter.

CAC led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, but Ozark cut the lead to 18-16 early in the second quarter on Walker’s 3-pointer. Dillard hit a 3-pointer to spark at 13-3 run to end the first half for CAC.